Stress May Help Cancer Cells Resist Treatment

From BestHealth, July 2007

Scientists from Wake Forest University School of Medicine recently discovered that the stress hormone epinephrine causes changes in prostate and breast cancer cells that may make them resistant to cell death.

Previous research shows that levels of epinephrine, which is produced by the adrenal glands, sharply increase in response to stress and can remain elevated during persistent stress and depression. The new study focused on whether there is a direct link between stress hormones and changes in cancer cells.

Studying prostate and breast cancer cells in the laboratory, George Kulik, D.V.M., Ph.D., and colleagues found that a protein called BAD — which causes cell death — becomes inactive when cancer cells are exposed to epinephrine.

The study suggests that emotional stress may contribute to the development of cancer and also reduce the effectiveness of cancer treatments, says Kulik. “It may be important for patients who have increased responses to stress to learn to manage the effects. And, the results point to the possibility of developing an intervention to block the effects of epinephrine.”